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I think it has been over a year since my last post. Since life continues to keep on moving….I found myself with not too many exciting things to post about! My mom continues to live a pretty incredible life with ALS. Winter is always a little slow for us. We are currently doggie sitting my sister’s dog Jack while she and her hubby live it up in Mexico!

My mom reached a milestone this last year as well. 10 years have passed since her ALS diagnosis. It is hard to believe that we have been living as a family with ALS for a decade now. My mom is one amazing and incredible woman!

ALS walk 2014

We continue to have regular visits with my grandpa who is living in a memory care home down the road. He is such a funny guy and always puts a huge smile on my mom’s face. It is so nice having him near us. We also attend monthly family nights that are a lot of fun and very interesting 🙂

Lovin Gramps!

Family night with John, Aaron and Barbara

All of the Kast family together

Another huge moment this last year was the ALS Ice Bucket challenge! The money raised was a dream come true. We might just find a cure someday! Thank you to all of our family and friends that participated. It was fun that this remarkable challenge lined up with my mom’s 10 year ALS diagnosis. It was a fun pick me up that put some new wind in our sails.

Jenna taking the challenge on the big screen at the Vikings game!

Since I have so many things I could catch you up on…I think that I will post some of our favorite memories over the last year or so. We sure had some fun times!

Mom and I went to a couple of Twins games!

We enjoyed family time on our deck!

Mom, Dad and I went to a pre-season Vikings game to cheer Jenna on!

Mom absolutely LOVED watching all of the Ice bucket challenge videos!

Cousin Shawna’s birthday party!

More family time on the deck

Ross and I attended almost every Vikings home game together to see Jenna cheer!

Family night at Gramps

Gotta love Halloween

We took a million pics with a sleeping Rog!

Our attempt at a family Thanksgiving pic

Jenna’s annual cookie party

Jenna’s Holiday show at MOA

Loving mama

Macy’s 8th floor! Even though it is the same every year….we always go. Keeping traditions alive!

Motown the musical with Jenna’s mother in law.

Christmas!

Jenna was girl of the game for the MVC!

Visiting gramps!

We threw our friend Amy a Grandma shower!

Amy’s grandma shower!

I went to Siesta Key, FL in January on a girl’s trip!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I think that is enough for now! It is my plan to update this blog more frequently. I know that Mama Jules has lots of people that follow her progress this way. I am sorry for not being more diligent. Our family cherishes our friendships!

I have about a million trillion pictures I could update you with since I have allowed a couple of months to pass again. I think I will start with a small chunk dating back to September, and go from there! My mom is still in great health. She just keeps chugging along! I try to get her out of the house at least 5 days a week….especially before the snow starts flying! Shopping is still her favorite thing to do along with hanging out with her friends. Here we go!

My cousin Shawna turned 15 in September! She had a beautiful quincenera where my uncle escorted her in. She looked absolutely beautiful! At one point in the party she lit 15 candles to pass to the most influential people in her life until this point. Mama Jules is her Godmother and was honored to get a candle. I was also honored with a candle. It brought me (and all of us) to tears! We are so proud of you Shawna! You have grown into a beautiful young woman!

Uncle John escorting Shawna

The candle receivers!

Next up was my nephew Julian’s birthday! Rocky Rococo’s is our favorite pizza place and there is one left in MN. It has become a tradition to go there when the boys have a birthday!

Jenna, Ross and Nate

Our attempt at a group pic! lol

Next up was my bday! Some friends and I visited local wineries in Waconia for some tasting. It was so much fun!

My Godmother and friend Amy took Mama Jules and I to Crave to celebrate as well!

Jenna and I ran my first 5 k together and it happened to be for ALS! I enjoyed training with my sister weeks before the event. Running has become something that I really enjoy! Who knew?

And last but not least, Grandpa Eagle drove down to MN from UP Michigan to visit us. At 97 years old, I don’t know how he does it! It was so wonderful having him here!!!

Eating at Houlihan’s with Family!

Had to throw this one in. Dad caught a cold :(. I always love a good Rog sleeping pic!

ahhh

And that will be it for now! Thank you for checking in with us!!!! We are so blessed to have our family and friends and each other. xoxo, Kelly

Wow! I have not written on this blog site in forever. I think my main reason for not writing as often, is that there has not been much to write about. My mom has been out of the hospital for a couple of years now….and her health seems to be stable. We haven’t seen any real changes positive or negative over the last few years. I would say that we are just living life and getting out as much as possible! I will try to make an effort to post pictures of some of the fun things we have been up to. You name it, Mama Jules is out doing it! We do still argue frequently about going shopping. I Just can’t seem to keep Mama Jules out of Von Maur! lol. I can’t really complain….at least the lady still has passion!

We would like to invite all of our friends and family to join us on the ALS walk again this year! If you cannot join us, any sort of donation would be greatly appreciated! Like I always say…..the ALS Association has been WONDERFUL to our family. We have definitely seen all of those dollars put to good use.

Here is the walk information this year:

Julie’s Eagle Wings

It is that time of year again! Time for team “Julie’s Eagle Wings” to kick some ALS butt! This is always a very special day for our friends and family. It is this day once a year that we can pull together and show our support for “Mama Jule’s” and her amazing strength and inspiration. The walk this year is 9/21/2013 at 10:00 am. Sign in begins at 9:00! We will be walking at the same location we did last year.

Location: Thomson Reuters — 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123

Distance: 3 miles

I am sure that it will be a blast! Please join our team & help us battle ALS! Even if you cannot walk, you can still join our team and be a virtual walker or make a donation. Click the link below to Join us!

Well, the Christmas Season was a pretty busy and fun time for us! We did many holiday activities this year….and I have so many pictures to share! My mom’s health has continued to be great, which we are so thankful for. Here are some pictures from what we have been up to!

First up, Jenna’s 6th Annual Christmas Cookie Party! This party is always so much fun, and her friends are AWESOME!!

Jenna’s 6th Annual Cookie Party Crew!

Jackson Dressed up for the occasion

Mom and her best friend Amy (also our cookie party photographer)

Myself and Mama Jules!

Jenna’s mother in law (Louann) and Jackson!

Megan Hanson brought Chocolate Chip Martinis!

The following week we went down to Macy’s 8th floor to look at the Christmas Display with our friends Amy, Cheryl and Catey. This is a tradition that my mom and Amy have been doing since my sister and Megan (Amy’s daughter) were little girls. We continue the tradition every year followed by lunch at the sky room.

Macy’s 8th floor!

Later that week we were off to see “A Christmas Carol” at the Gurthrie. My sister’s mother-in-law treated us to the show for Christmas. We had the best handicap seats and all really enjoyed it! This is another Minneapolis Christmas “Must”.

Intermission (right after I snapped this pic I got scolded by an usher…haha)

And now we have arrived to Christmas. Christmas Eve we had family and friends over. My brother Nathan was able to come over with his entire family as well. This is the first year in FOREVER that we have all been together. It was chaotic fun! Christmas day we opened presents in the morning and then headed over to my sister’s for Christmas dinner with her in-laws

Grandpa Kast laughing with Jackson

My dad, sister and Jack

Nate’s entire family. The boys from the left are Jordan, Julian and Joshua. It is becoming impossible to get Julian to smile for the camera!

My bestie Kate stopped over with her mom, husband and little boy

Nate and Grandpa

Family pic from Christmas day

My sister and I Christmas Eve

Dad and I on Christmas Day

Mom sporting her new Christmas duds!

New years eve, my brother and his wife got our family tickets to the Beach Boys. My mom, dad, brother and I had such a great time at the concert. I love a concert where you know all of the words and can sing along. It brought back so many childhood memories. Again, we had amazing handicap seats. Thanks Nate and Souvanny!

Mom and Dad at the concert

My brother Nate and I

And on a final note, my dad has been in Florida this past week, so it has been pretty much Mama Jules and myself. We have kept ourselves busy hanging with friends, seeing movies and shopping with my sister. My dad absolutely hates my sister’s puppy climbing on my mom, but when Rog is away, the girlies will play 🙂

It looks like the numbers are in for team “Julie’s Eagle wings”! As a team we managed to raise $1,820 surpassing our goal of $1,500 for the Walk to D’feet ALS! Thank you so much to everybody that donated and participated. It was another wonderful year….and we all had such a fantastic time. Here are some pics from the big day 2 weeks ago.

Look at that group! Dogs included!

Jenna giving Mama Jules some lovin.

Jenna’s friends Mel and Karin.

Myself and my friends Catey and Lindsay

Uncle John, Barbara and Cousin Shawna

Myself giving Mama Jules some Lovin

Sister Pic!

Daddy Rog trying to stay warm!

Jenna and her two loves

Thank you again to everybody for a wonderful walk! Mama Jules felt very LOVED along with our whole family. Xoxo

It is that time of year again! Time for team “Julie’s Eagle Wings” to kick some ALS butt! This is always a very special day for our friends and family. It is this day once a year that we can pull together and show our support for “Mama Jule’s” and her amazing strength and inspiration. The walk this year is 9/22/2012 at 10:00 am. Check- in begins at 9:00! This year we will be walking at a new location.

Location: Thomson Reuters — 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123

Distance: 3 miles

I am sure that it will be a blast! Please join our team & help us battle ALS! Even if you cannot walk, you can still join our team and be a virtual walker. It is important that you sign up if you will be joining us…that way we can have the correct number of t-shirts. Thank you again for all of the love and support! Please click the link below to join the fun or donate to help fight this battle.

I am a little bit late on this post, but better late than never! Mama Jules celebrated her 63rd birthday May 26th and we had a great week celebrating with family and friends! Every birthday is special to us, because it means another year my mom has kicked ALS in the butt! You go Mama Jules!! Here are some pics of things we were up to.

On mom’s actual birthday we went as a family to the Twin’s game. Nathan was working (like he always is lately) so we were minus one with the family. My mom’s twin brother Jeff went to the game that day as well (since they are twins, it was his birthday too. Get it? haha.). It was fun to have the Twins at the Twin’s game! I know….my jokes are getting cheesier and cheesier. The weather was crazy cold, windy and rainy…so we only stayed through the 6th inning. It started to pour rain & they had a rain delay. We ended up having a great time. Well, Jenna put on a happy face…but she was pretty miserable. Rain and baseball just are not her thing.

Myself, dad and the birthday girl. Had to keep her warm!

Jenna keeping that smile on her face. We are still a good 45 minutes away from first pitch!

The next day my dad, mom and I took my grandpa to Houlihan’s to celebrate. The restaurant is right across the street from his home, se we can roll him right over.

Are we having fun or what?

Birthday pic of Mama Jules

Gramps wanted a pic with this thing

Group pic 🙂

So, my mom and I had so much fun at the Twin’s game on her birthday, we decided to go back by ourselves the following Wednesday. We took it as a challenge to see if we could do it on our own. My dad sometimes hates our “adventurous” spirit, so we didn’t tell him. hehe. I was confident that I had the handicap parking and seating down, so off we went. This time the weather was a lot better. We had a great time! I had to beg her to let us leave during the 8th inning to avoid the crowd. This is where my mom is a little braver than me. She would rather wait until the end & fight our way through the crowds on the way out. The twins won!!! It was a great day!

Mom and I at our seats!

We had a great view!

And last but not least, Dori & Amy came over later in the week to plant geraniums as a gift to my mom! They did this last year…and it is so exciting! The job is usually left to me….and I don’t mind getting a break from it. Thank you Amy and Dori!

Dori and Amy in action. What great friends!

After planting…we went on a walk through the neighborhood. Thank you Amy for mom’s new visor! She loves it!!

Ok, that is all for today. We are heading out to a late lunch with Amy and Catey at Pairings. We haven’t been there in a while, so we are excited!

As most of you know through FB (since everybody is obsessed with me…haha), I recently went to Colorado for a super fun 4 day girlie weekend. While I was gone my dad and sister pulled together to take care of Mama Jules. I am happy to report that all went well! My mom has been feeling great lately & we all seem to be healthy and happy. Thank you dad and Jenna for allowing me some respite!

The day before I left we got out for a walk with our friends Catey and Amy. That whole week I had been trying to keep us busy since I knew my mom would have to stay in bed the 4 days I was gone.

Mom, Catey and Amy

Myself and Mama Jules

The next day I was off to Frisco, CO. 3 of us ladies were flying from MN, one from IA, one from KS and 2 were from Denver. It was so much fun. Thank you Maura Mackintosh and Kate Florer for hosting!! Here are a few pics

Just off the plane and heading up into the mountains. (myself and Hilary)

Kate is ready to party it up in the mountains

The group in Vail the following day

Out for the night on “Cinco de Mayo”. Sorry Dana…had to post this one!

Dinner before all the craziness began

Dinner in Frisco

View from the home we were staying in.

Thanks ladies for a wonderful trip!!

After I got back from my trip, our schedule was booked. We have been out every day and keeping extremely busy. We had an appointment with my mom’s infectious disease doctor and were able to get 5 refills for antibiotic when/if her cellulitis comes back. This is really exciting!! It means we will avoid having a 5 day hospital stays again. Thank the Lord!!!

Last Saturday my mom and I went to Aimee Reller’s bridal shower. Aimee is one of Jenna’s “besties” and she is going to be one of her bridesmaids next month! It was such a fun shower. Congrats Aimee!

At the shower. Caitlin, Aimee & Jenna

Aimee practicing cutting the cake!

That evening we went to the Swarm game. The Swarm had won their first playoff game the weekend before…so MN was hosting the division finals that night! It was great to have another game….even though we didn’t play very well. That’s ok. We are proud of your fantastic season Swarm!! We can’t wait for next year!

Jenna shaking her thing one last time!

And last up….Mother’s Day! We were all completely exhausted from such a busy week/weekend, but we knew we had to find a fun way to honor our mom. We like to think that we honor her every day….but why not honor her some more? So, after doing card presentation and giving mom her hanging plant gift we headed out for a Mother’s Day walk. The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time. I think Mama Jules had a great time!

Jenna reading Mama Jules her card. After we had to argue about which card was better (of course mine was! haha).

I think that will be it for now. This post has taken me 3 days to write. Life is crazy around here! I hope that all the Mothers out there had a very Happy Mother’s Day! I know that being a mom is one of the hardest jobs out there. I know that I could not ask for a better mom. I honor her every day by showing her my love in return. We make quite a pair!

Ok, so my mom has cellulitis AGAIN!! Grr. This time we are treating her at home with oral antibiotics & they seem to be working. On Tuesday my mom began her usual chills & rash. This is becoming routine for us now. Luckily my mom’s infectious disease doctor from the hospital kept a prescription refill on hand for us in case symptoms returned. Thank the Lord! This means that we didn’t have to head straight to the emergency room & endure another 5 day ordeal. So far so good. Her chills & fever have disappeared and the rash is not growing. Continued prayers for a speedy recovery are greatly appreciated!!

Our Easter at the Eagle house was pretty un-eventful. We did manage to get some Easter baskets over to my nephews who sent us a photo showing their excitement. Such cuties!

Julian & Jordan. My brother Nathan's boys

A couple of weeks ago my Grandpa Eagle came to MN for a visit from Upper Michigan. He is 94 years old and managed a 12 hour car trip on his own. He is amazing and in great health! We kept him super busy the 4 days that he was here. We were all exhausted when the weekend was over…but we sure had a great time!

Grandpa with Jenna at the Swarm Game

Mom, Dad & gramps getting ready for the Swarm to take the field

SPT!

We all went over to dine with Grandpa Kast. The Grandpa's had a great time together!

Jenna & Ross had us over for dinner with the Narloch family

We all fit!

Dad & Gramps

Mom & Gramps. Mom was not in a "picture taking" kind of mood. This was the best I could do.

Ahhhhh

That is about all for now. Up until the Cellulitis came back, we have been enjoying walks, shopping & friends. This is hopefully just a minor set back & mom’s body with be back to its normal self soon. We are thankful for being home (even though we are now cooped up). It beats the hospital any day!!

As most of our friends & family know by now….we are in the hospital again with Cellulitis. On Monday my mom went from looking great, to having the chills really badly within a matter of minutes. After I had bundled her up with blankets, the chills continued & I knew that I should start searching for the dreaded rash on her body. As I lifted up her blankets…there it was. Her upper right thigh was starting to turn a shade of pink & I just knew that it wrapped around to her pressure sore on her bottom. It has been three months since our last ER visit & we have been so proud of the fact that my mom has been doing so well. This was a huge bummer. After calling my dad to let him know…we packed up & headed out. The ER wasn’t too busy which was a bonus. My mom’s temp was 103 & her chills continued to be pretty bad. After the usual blood work & tests run, we transferred up to the ICU & that is where we reside now.

Mom & Dad in the ER. Doesn't she look thrilled that I found this a great photo-op?

My mom was pretty exhausted the first night & her blood pressure was really low, but she is now feeling a lot better. We also had a really hard time getting an IV in her. Both of her arms are pretty bruised up from all the pokes.

My mom's hand after an IV was not in all of the way. Her arm swelled up & she is now working on re-absorbing all the fluid.

I spent the first night with her & Jenna spent last night with her. My dad is taking a couple of days off work this time, and he will be spending the night tonight. I really appreciate having them more available this time. I think I was a bit overwhelmed the last time we were here…because they both had to work. I went a little stir crazy & was severely lacking in a good nights sleep. I feel much for refreshed this time. Whew!

Thank you for all of the prayers & well wishes. I am thinking we will be here for a couple of more days. I think it will be the usual drill. We will go home with 2 weeks of oral antibiotics & hope for the best! Thank you to the amazing nurses here at Methodist! It is comforting to know so many of them & they know us. They adapt to our crazy family quite well!